Monster
by Super Sister
Summary: Danny is suffering from a mysterious disease and searches for a cure. Originally DISCONTINUED, now a Two-Shot. To read how it would have ended, see writer's profile.
1. In the Shadows

_No sleep, no sleep until I'm done with finding the answer,__  
Won't stop, won't stop before I find the cure for this cancer,_

Danny rubbed his eyes, slightly tired, while swallowing the pills Clockwork had given him. He rubbed his eyes, slightly tired, clicking on a link on the web page he was on. There was a light knock on the door.  
"Come in..." Danny mumbled, quickly pretending to play doom, hiding the tab.  
"Danny, aren't you going to bed soon?" Jazz asked, her head peeping out the door.  
"Yeah, I'm just gonna finish this level-"  
"Danny, it's _eleven o'clock_. You should be in bed by now!"  
"Oh come on Jazz. Everyone else my age goes to bed at one in the morning!"  
"Well, everybody else is stupid. Go to bed." Danny sat there, playing an actual level, before closing it. He turned off his computer and looked at Jazz, a hint of sadness in his eyes.

_"_But I'm only doing this because of you." He muttered, getting into bed. Jazz smiled, then leaving him alone to go to sleep. But Danny didn't sleep. He put on his night-light on and took out a book he had hidden in the floorboards. He pulled out a pen and start scribbling in it.  
"**I must find a way to cure this condition, Clockwork says the pills he's given me will only slow the process down, even if it does slow it down a considerable amount. I wonder whether I should ask my sister for help, but I don't want to give her another burden. I figured that I could just set the settings on the ghost portal to how they were the day I got into this state, since it worked in that wish incident, but the portal has been upgraded multiple times since then. I would have to degrade it or something to set them to the settings they were originally on and also I would probably lose my ghost powers in the process, if I were to manage to switch it on and get rid of the status.**"

He sighed, holding his chin in a hand. He had known since he had that first meeting with Clockwork, he had explained a lot about it or rather, as much as he can, without those Observerants pestering him about meddling with the time stream without their permission. He frowned when his thoughts strayed towards Vlad. Vlad's condition was a lot slower than Danny's, meaning that he had a long time, until he had to start worrying about his problem.

Ha! Vlad probably doesn't even know about it! He started chewing on the end of his pen. Sighing, he scribbled down his thoughts about his condition.

_Sometimes, sometimes I feel like going down, I'm so disconnected,_

Danny shuffled down the hallways, Sam and Tucker next to him. There was a depressing atmosphere about the raven boy with sapphire eyes in the group. It had gotten increasingly bad everyday. His friends had tried to coax him into telling them what's the matter, but whenever they almost got something out of him, his ghost sense would go off.  
"Danny, you look kinda tired." Sam commented, her lilac eyes scanning him for any signs of an illness.  
"I _am_." Danny replied, but bit his lip, before he could say "You don't know how tiring it is to research all night on that damn condition!"  
"Box Ghost and Skulker thought it would be fun to pester me in the night..." He lied, his pupils darting to the right corner of his eyes.

"Man, you would have thought those guys would give it a break..." Tucker joked, nudging his friend, only to be glared at by Sam.  
"I was just trying to lighten the mood." He muttered, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

"I know. It's just... Nah, forget it." Danny said, overhearing Tucker. Then a blue mist escaped his mouth.  
"Uh, duty calls." Danny said, running off. Before Sam or Tucker could utter a word, he had turned a corner and vanished out of their sight. Sam pouted, wishing she knew why Danny had been so depressive later. After all, darkness, despair and depressiveness was _her_ thing, not _his_.

Once he was out of sight of the student body, he transformed into his alter-ego Danny Phantom. But instead of looking for the ghost, he shot to the roof and sat down, his arms around his knees.

He had found out how to make his ghost sense go off, without a ghost having to be present. A lot of the time, he had faked that to either get away from his friends or school all together. He pulled out the little book he had written in the day before. But instead of writing in it, he lay down onto the roof, his limbs stretched far apart from each other. He sighed. Was it really worth it? Keeping this a secret? Maybe he should tell them... But before he could continue that thought, he heard the whirring of a gun. Danny turned around, finding himself at the gunpoint of several ectoguns.

_Somehow, somehow I know that I am haunted to be wanted,_

"Oh..." He mouthed. Valerie _and_ the guys in white had decided to hunt him. Completely forgetting the little book he had with him, he flew off, at top speeds. Of course, they followed him. Wild ectobeams were shot at him, all missing and damaging property instead.

"Will you fly still Ghost Boy!" Valerie snapped annoyed, the guys in White simply shot, they were too far away to be able to heard.  
"Oh crud." Danny muttered, seeing a familiar RV drive up the hill, guns powered up. He quickly did a 90° turn and tried flying lower, as to force them to drive slower in putting obstacles in their way. This didn't work, so he took the high root again.

"Don't you guys have something better to do?" He snapped, looking back at them for a split second. This action proved a big mistake, since he then face-planted a building. Landing on the ground, Danny winced in pain, not only rubbing his bright red (with pain) face, but also his back.  
"Ghost boy! You are under arrest!" A guy in white shouted, now Danny had three different "groups" chasing him. He quickly ducked out the way. "Man, I've gotta change to Fenton..." He whispered to himself, quickly dodging blasts and starting to really hit speeds he didn't know he could reach.

_I've been watching, I've been waiting, in the shadows all my time,_

Finally, Danny found somewhere to hide. He dove into a side-alley, basically crashing into a rubbish container, turning into Fenton while the puzzled hunters looked for Phantom, who had suddenly disappeared off their radars. Danny groaned at the smell of rubbish, but quickly silenced, when he heard his parents, Valerie and the guys in white walk down the alley. Even though he was now Danny Fenton, he would still be in a lot of trouble.  
"I could have sworn he dove down into this place..." Jack muttered.

"He probably escaped, look Jack! The scanners aren't detecting anything!"  
"How does he do that..." Jack wondered. He heard feet shuffling, Danny hoped they had gone. Valerie's hover-board was in the distance, going further and further away, leaving the guys in white.  
"All clear hear agent N." He heard something being muffled back in reply.  
"Really? The ghost boys book is something like a journal?"

"Crud." Danny whispered, barely audible. Now, if he was lucky, the media wouldn't get their hands on _that_.

_I've been searching, I've been living for tomorrows all my life!  
In the shadows... In the shadows_

Danny shuffled home. His crouched shape was even more slouched than usual, his hands stuffed into his trouser pockets and he wore a big frown. All his theories had been in there... Without it... The possible future that had been laid before him had disappeared faster than a dust-ball up a hover. He hadn't bothered going back to school.

At the moment, he needed time to himself. His parents were downstairs in the lab, so they wouldn't notice their sons presence. He crept upstairs and lay on his bed, to do a good thinking session.

Should he or should he not get that book back? And should he or should he not tell Jazz about his problem? Frowning he lay there. The problem with him is that he had too many hopes that he would be fine. Why? Why did he live in the hope that tomorrow will be better? Ever since the mayor incident, everything had been spiraling downwards. Why did he live for the tomorrow, that will never come?

Yet again he sighed. He needed time to himself. He rubbed his temples sighing. He closed his eyes, turned invisible, intangible and into Danny Phantom, then shot out of Fenton Works. He needed to relax. Think things over better.

_They say, that I must learn to kill before I can feel safe,  
But I, But I would rather kill myself, than turn into their slave,_

Sadly, for Danny, the flight most certainly wasn't relaxing or helpful. In fact, things had worsened. While flying, he had seen a thief. Of course, he helped the police capture him, but when he had the criminal in his hands, a dark voice had whispered that he needed to kill and absorb the man's life energy to support his form. It had scared him. He had accidentally dropped the man then, to make it worse, he had done that several feet in the air, so he had to fly and catch him.

Now the criminal had a fear of heights. Danny rubbed his neck. This was bad, very bad. That voice... It had been right. He did need life energy if he wanted to stay human, but he wasn't about to kill to get it! He would much rather die, than become a murderer. He sighed. It was now almost school out at Casper High. He heard thunder in the distance. _The weather man is never right._ Danny thought to himself...

_Sometimes, sometimes I feel that I should go and play with the thunder,  
Somehow, somehow I just don't wanna stay and wait for a wonder..._

Danny stared at the thunderstorm, as it slowly, with high speeds, came to Amity Park. He was completely mesmerized. He had blanked out and had suddenly become a stunned ghost. He... He wanted to outstretch his hands and _touch_ it, it looked so... Pretty.

Then he thought, why wait? Why wait for a wonder? He was going to die, why not hurry the process?

_I've been watching, I've been waiting, in the shadows all my time,  
I've been searching, I've been living for tomorrows all my life,_

But no, he hid in the shadows, under a tree*_. _It didn't stop his suicidal thoughts though._  
_

_"Lately, I've been walking, walking in circles," _Danny thought..._  
"Waiting, watching for something," _Danny looked up at the lightning. It struck the tree and Danny was the end receiver._  
_

_"Feel me, Touch me, Heal me, come take me higher..."_

**"AAAAAAAH!"** Danny screamed, although some how... He felt darkness... And he embraced it..._  
_

_I've been watching, I've been waiting, in the shadows all my time,  
I've been searching, I've been living for tomorrows all my life,  
I've been watching,  
I've been waiting,  
I've been searching,  
I've been living for tomorrows... In the shadows... In the shadows...  
_

_I've been waiting!_

The next time Danny woke up, it was in hospital. He looked at himself. Skin, normal, hair black, eyes blue... Still at square one._  
_

**

* * *

*During a thunderstorm it is a VERY, VERY BAD IDEA to hide UNDERNEATH A TREE! Do Not do this!**_  
_


	2. Monster

**I forgot to put up a disclaimer on the last chap, so here : DP doesn't belong to me.  
The lyrics I used last chapter doesn't belong to me, it belongs to "the rasmus" and for those who want to know: It's called In the Shadows.  
The lyrics in this chapter also don't belong to me, they belong to "The Automatic" and it's called "Monster".**

_

* * *

Brained fried tonight through Misuse... Through Misuse, through misuse...__  
You can't avoid static abuse... abuse, abuse  
_

Danny practically crashed into his room at one in the morning, after who knows how long, he had finally finished his usual evening patrol. After the lightning strike, his condition seemed to have vanished, he had actually started to take school and ghost hunting seriously again. The book the Guys in White had found hadn't been heard of and from what he could gather, Skulker, who had decided to take some stuff from there had accidentally destroyed it. His depression seemed to have disappeared into nothing, but still something in his mind kept telling him that something wasn't right. Danny got into his bed, not bothering with transforming back to Fenton. Just when he was about to fall into deep-sleep though, he suddenly heard a mad laughter from somewhere in the streets, at the same time his ghost sense went off. He growled in annoyance, before shooting off again.

_Without these pills you're let loose, let loose, let loose,_

He had finally caught the ghost at three in the morning, after a mad goose chase through the whole of Amity and then to top it off, he got to run from a mad Red Huntress. Once again, he collapsed onto his bed, and finally fell asleep. If Skulker had came by that night for his pelt, Danny wouldn't have run, let alone give a fight._  
_

His alarm went off at six. Blasting his alarm clock to pieces, Danny got up (Jazz had bought him a special alarm clock, which he, or better said she*, could easily reassemble every time he smashed it to smithereens). His head hung drowsily from his shoulders, everything was spinning. He took deep breaths and things started to clear a bit. Stretching he got ready for school, remembering the pills. Even though he didn't feel he really needed them, since the condition had vanished, he still took them.

He grabbed for the pills which stood underneath his lamp (it was the best hiding place for them). But when he placed his hands where they should be, he didn't find any. He quickly became alert, all tired and drowsiness suddenly being washed away be panic and anxiousness. They weren't on his night table, they weren't in the drawers, the weren't on the floor.

Jazz knocked gently on the door. Danny jumped inwardly, before mumbling a quiet "come in", barely audible. So when she entered, it was quite surprising. Either she had extremely good hearing, or she had decided before knocking to enter with or without consent.

"Danny, you know how I say, you shouldn't take any pills, since we don't know the effects on a ghost..." Jazz said, peering at her brother, who stood in his room, cowering slightly, like a dear stuck in the spotlight.

"Uh, yeah? What about it?"  
"And that if you did take pills, you _could_ become addicted to them, since you often feel terrible?" She continued. Still clueless about why Jazz was asking him these things, he looked out the window.

"Yeah..."  
"Would you ignore what I say about pills?"  
"Of course I wouldn't."  
"So... Why is it that I found..." Jazz stuttered, she really hated confronting Danny about this, since she really just wanted to let him come to her by himself. Danny tensed visibly, finally realizing where Jazz was going.

Danny stayed silent, not looking up. "A ghost dropped them here, I wanted to figure out what they were for. I kept it secret, 'cause... I don't know." Jazz sighed in relief.

"Well, OK, but I wouldn't keep these, they're probably deadly or something." Jazz said, smiling, before dropping the pills in Danny's bin. When she left, Danny stood there awkwardly. But after some thought, he turned his back on them and started getting changed. _It's not like I have it any more..._

_Stand up, get out, no excuse... No excuse, no excuse..._

Danny was at school, sitting in his class, writing a test which was almost as important as the C.A.T., but only just. It seemed he was actually doing quite well, he had over half of it finished! His lips formed a small smile, which didn't go unnoticed by Mr. Lancer, who was pleased with this.

Danny then gasped, a blue mist rising upwards from his lips, before fading away. _No, not here! Not during the test!_ Danny screamed in his mind. Then a mental battle began, on whether Danny should go and capture the ghost or not.

_I'm sure mum or dad will catch the ghost. I've got to finish this test.  
But mum and dad won't get there as fast as me, I can stop property getting damaged and people hurt!  
But no one ever got hurt from a ghost attack before... Anyway, it's probably just the Box Ghost.  
You can't be so sure of that!  
Maybe Val will chase the ghost, she is quite good now...  
But she's human! She can't do a job as well as a ghost...  
Poop._

Danny raised and hand, while asking "Sir, can I quickly go to the toilet?" Mr. Lancer then frowned. Here comes the whole "I won't be here for three hours sir" situation. But, seeing as he couldn't say no, he nodded his head. Danny ran out of the class room, while Sam and Tucker shook their heads in pity. _  
_

_Confused, mind bruised, it seeps out... It seeps out, it seeps out...  
Face down, home town looks so grey... so grey, so grey..._

He flew as fast as possible to the source of trouble, freezing in his tracks. He then snarled.  
"What do _you_ want Plasmius?"

"I want to offer one more time Daniel. Join me."  
"Or what?"  
"To be honest, my patience is wearing thin of your constant stubbornness, I decided this to be your last chance. Join me, or suffer the consequences."  
"Never." Danny said lowly.  
"So be it. Since you will only be in my way though..." Vlad said coolly, before suddenly launching an attack. Danny quickly put up a shield, but a clone Vlad was behind him, while Danny was distracted with the shield, and punched him in the back. He winced, but Vlad ignored this, blasting his back immediately after wards. Danny fell towards a building, only managing to turn intangible in the last minute. He then floated towards the surface, gently touching his back. He groaned in pain.

He then shot an ectoblast at Vlad, who easily dodged. He tried ice. It did catch Vlad, but Vlad melted it, surprising Danny. Danny shot Vlad while he was melting the ice, now both were injured. They circled each other around the floor, before Vlad then launched a second attack. Danny blasted his shot back, causing a bright flash of green and pink. When the flash dimmed, you could see two ectobeams, pushing at each other. Danny solely concentrating on pushing Vlad's energy back.

Sadly, he was so concentrated, he never stood a chance when a stray blast hit Danny by chance. A stray blast shot by none other than Jack and Maddie Fenton, who had arrived. For a brief moment, everything seemed black and white to Danny, the movements around him making it grey. Suddenly his hometown, in that split second he saw it, looked old, worn and dull. For a moment, Amity Park seemed like anything, but home. Danny was sent falling back, crashing into a building. His back screamed in agony, his limbs had gone numb in pain and his head... Oh his, head! Suddenly the thing he had kept secret came alive.

_Convexed you bend, twist and shout... twist and shout, twist and shout...  
Stand up, brush off get moving... Get moving, get moving...  
_

He screamed, a powerful Ghostly Wail escaping his mouth. But that hadn't been the secret... Danny's figure limply flashed between Danny Phantom and a new being, the being he was slowly, but surely transforming into. His new "form" flashed, it's skin was so pale, it's eyes flashed red, his hair was 100% white*** and he had fangs. Maddie and Jack were out of line of fire, but Vlad got a direct hit in the chest. He was blasted into a building, before turning intangible, fading from sight. Danny damaged several buildings and many other things that got caught in the unearthly wail. Somehow, they skies had gone dark grey and thunder growled in the background.

Finally, his lungs gave out, a white ring briefly appearing around his mid-section. He panted heavily, supporting his weight on his hands and knees, head dangling from his shoulders. Silence met his ears, but there was so much happening around, a strong wind was blowing for goodness sake! Had he gone deaf?He looked around himself, his face turning into one of shock and horror.

A major part of the city had been destroyed. It looked so hopeless and deserted. He started hyperventilating, the image of a full ghost, ten years older than him, briefly flashing in his mind, with an alternate Amity Park as a background. He then saw his parents, who were staring at him, open mouthed, also shocked. Before they could blink, he turned intangible and invisible, flying away at top speeds out of panic. It had started and there was no way of stopping it.

_What's that coming over the hill, is it a monster? Is it a monster?  
What's that coming over the hill, is it a monster? Is it a monster?  
What's that coming over the hill, is it a monster? Is it a monster?  
What's that coming over the hill, is it a monster? It is a monster?  
_

The test had ended several minutes ago, all the students were walking to their next class, chattering happily. Sam frowned.  
"Stupid Box Ghost. He's probably the reason Danny's late." Tucker nodded in agreement, changing his books for the next class.

"Danny says he nearly always ends up chasing him across half the town."  
"It probably doesn't help that Valerie will go and look for him now-" Sam continued, until she saw something flicker past them in the hallway, losing invisibility very, very fast. The object was flying at such a speed, it actually made the effect of wind. Papers flew past, Sam brushed her hair out of her face when she heard a crash. They rushed over to see what was going on. Everything seemed to slow down. A major part of the student body had gathered around someone. Sam, being Goth, prepared her elbows, before jabbing people out of the way. Saying she was shocked at what she saw was an understatement.

Danny, still in Phantom Mode, was lying on the floor, clinging onto the last shreds of his consciousness, a blue ring kept flickering to life around his waist, although it always quickly disappeared. Even though his suit was black, you could see a green substance appearing on it, most of it coming from the back. He was gasping for breath, although every time he breathed out, he coughed up some green blood, with splodges of red in it, becoming more and more evident as he continued to cough up blood. Jazz was suddenly at the ghost boys side, telling him to try breathing calmly.

The students watched with interest, as the older Fenton sibling tended the ghost boy, although some were more interested as to why a blue ring kept appearing around their heroes waist, why he had ended up in their school and most of all, why human blood was mixed in his own blood, every time he coughed up****.

Even with Jazz's help, Danny continued coughing. Suddenly, he said something to Jazz, which made Jazz obviously shocked. Suddenly, a new ring appeared around his midsection, but this time, instead of vanishing like the white-light blue one, it hung there. It had the colour of dark blue-black. It split, one going up the heroes body, the other down it. Finally a full-ghost appeared in front of them, red eyes staring up at them. Of course, more than a majority of the population didn't realize that Phantom now looked 100% ghost, instead of only partially. His aura was still white, but his skin color was an unhealthy pale tone.

The suit hadn't changed, it still looked the same. The ghost was holding Jazz's hand, squeezing it gently as if in reassurance. He then look straight into Sam's and Tucker's eyes,before vanishing from sight. Sam's lilac eyes darted around in shock, the event playing in her mind. _That couldn't have been Danny... It can't! _Her mind screamed, in denial_ It has to be some monster!_ After all, how was it possible for Danny to alter his appearance, _again_?  
"_That's it. That was a monster._" Her mind finally settled with.

_Face down, home town, face down,  
Home town, face down, Home town,  
Looks so grey,  
Face down, home town, face down,  
Home town, face down, Home town,  
Looks so grey..._

Danny looked at his hometown, his hands wrapped around his knees. His heart was thumping a million miles per second. _I, I can't go home... What I've wanted to prevent..._ He burrowed his face into his knees, quietly crying. His back was healed, but a thick scar marked were it had been injured. His suit was still drenched in his own blood, but somehow, he didn't care. From what looked like a bright or at least, _like_ a future, everything had suddenly turned black. He kept his eyes level on Amity Park. _What do I do..._

_What's that coming over the hill, is it a monster? Is it a monster?  
What's that coming over the hill, is it a monster? Is it a monster?  
What's that coming over the hill, is it a monster? Is it a monster?__  
What's that coming over the hill, is it a monster? Is it a monster?_

_Is it a monster?_

Danny's mind switched off. It was gone into shock, he no longer had the capability to think clearly. He got to his feet, with glazed over eyes, before muttering something along the lines of "I'll come back." And without even consciously knowing, he walked away._  
_

* * *

***What do you think the chances are that Danny would find the time to reassemble something?**  
**** I found out that lack of sleep can cause your head to swim and feel terrible and not very hungry for one or two days. Sometimes three. I should know, I got first hand experience. :S  
*** Danny P. has black eyebrows, but white hair, so now he had white eyebrows as well... :S**  
****** Well, you should know something about ghosts if they attack you on a regular basis. All students at Casper High have a basic knowledge on ghosts in this fic. r&r plz.  
**


End file.
